Iraqi troops arrest head of Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Islam: US
AFP
BAGHDAD- Iraqi troops on Monday arrested the head of the Ansar al-Islam insurgent group in Baghdad, US forces said in a statement.
"Iraqi Security Forces arrested the alleged leader of Ansar al-Islam and seven criminal associates during a series of joint security operations conducted in Mansour and Adhamiyah," it said, referring to areas of Baghdad.
Iraqi soldiers stop vehicles at a checkpoint in Baghdad, in April 2010.
Ansar al-Islam was created in 2001 by veterans of the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan and had its headquarters in Iraqi Kurdistan, near the border with Iran.
Shortly before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, US special forces and fighters from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan fought Ansar al-Islam whose fighters fled their headquarters.
In September 2003, many Ansar al-Islam members formed the soon-to-be renowned militant group Ansar al-Sunna.
Ansar al-Islam "is allegedly responsible for funding and terrorist operations in Europe and the United Kingdom and is a prominent extremist propaganda distributor," the statement said.
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